Florida's Space Coast Poised to Shatter Annual Launch Record — Five Launches in One Week

Florida's Space Coast Could Break Its Annual Launch Record This Week

By Saturday morning, the two major launch complexes on Florida's Space Coast — Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center — aim to complete five missions in a single week, including a two-launch day on Wednesday carried out by three companies. If all flights proceed as planned, the region will surpass the current annual record of 93 launches; 91 launches have already been recorded this year.

Busy Launch Schedule

The week began early Sunday with SpaceX lofting 18 rideshare satellites. On Wednesday, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are each scheduled to fly missions that will place additional satellites into orbit. Blue Origin hopes to launch its New Glenn rocket on Friday carrying two Mars-bound payloads, and early Saturday another SpaceX flight is slated to deploy more Starlink broadband satellites.

SpaceX Starlink Flights

SpaceX plans to launch 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit no earlier than 6:08 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40. The first-stage booster slated for this mission will be making its fifth flight, having previously supported missions including Crew-11 and at least one prior Starlink launch. A live webcast is expected to begin roughly five minutes before liftoff.

ULA Atlas V for Viasat

Later Wednesday at about 10:24 p.m., United Launch Alliance will attempt to launch an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41 carrying the second satellite in Viasat's new fleet. The Atlas V will place the payload into an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit. ULA is the joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security; the company's livestream will be available on YouTube.

If both Wednesday launches proceed as planned, Florida would tie or exceed the regional record of 93 launches for a single year.

Blue Origin's New Glenn — Mars-Bound Payloads

Blue Origin is targeting a Friday launch window opening at 2:51 p.m. from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for the company's second New Glenn flight. The mission, conducted in conjunction with NASA, follows Blue Origin's first New Glenn launch on Jan. 16.

The two payloads on that flight, named Blue and Gold, are expected to take roughly 11 months to reach Mars, where they will carry out an approximately 11-month science campaign before entering Martian orbit. The New Glenn first stage will also attempt a recovery on an ocean platform in the Atlantic shortly after liftoff — a landing that has been postponed several times since late 2024.

More SpaceX Activity

SpaceX's next mission is scheduled for early Saturday, no earlier than 3:30 a.m., from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A to place 29 additional Starlink satellites into orbit.

Earlier in the week, at 1:09 a.m. Sunday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 on a rideshare mission carrying a single satellite for South Korea's Agency for Defense Development plus payloads for multiple commercial customers into low-Earth orbit. That launch departed from Launch Complex 40, and the booster successfully returned to touch down at Landing Zone 2.

Separately, SpaceX also has a West Coast mission planned: 28 satellites are scheduled to launch Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base's SLC-4E at 12:56 p.m. PST.

Watch the Launches

Live webcasts will be available for several missions. Audiences can check the companies' official channels for the most up-to-date streaming links and launch-window information, which is subject to change due to weather and technical checks.